Heineken’s CEO Steps Down After Six Years of Flat Performance
Dolf van den Brink is leaving the Dutch beer giant, as the industry struggles to find its footing.
Beer is a brutal business, and Dolf van den Brink learned the hard way. Heineken announced that its CEO will step down May 31 after nearly six years leading the world’s second-largest beer maker. Van den Brink “arrived with high expectations, but Heineken has not delivered on them,” RBC Capital Markets analyst James Edwardes Jones told .
Van den Brink took the job in June 2020 during the Covid-19 pandemic and presided over a turbulent period marked by massive cost inflation, falling sales, declining margins and a battered share price.
Van den Brink is the latest CEO casualty. Brewers have struggled to sell more beer, with hopes of a sales revival repeatedly knocked off course by bad weather, political uncertainty and shifting attitudes toward drinking among younger people. The rise of weight-loss drugs like Ozempic could further dampen food and drink sales. Heineken’s board will now search for a successor.
Beer is a brutal business, and Dolf van den Brink learned the hard way. Heineken announced that its CEO will step down May 31 after nearly six years leading the world’s second-largest beer maker. Van den Brink “arrived with high expectations, but Heineken has not delivered on them,” RBC Capital Markets analyst James Edwardes Jones told .
Van den Brink took the job in June 2020 during the Covid-19 pandemic and presided over a turbulent period marked by massive cost inflation, falling sales, declining margins and a battered share price.
Van den Brink is the latest CEO casualty. Brewers have struggled to sell more beer, with hopes of a sales revival repeatedly knocked off course by bad weather, political uncertainty and shifting attitudes toward drinking among younger people. The rise of weight-loss drugs like Ozempic could further dampen food and drink sales. Heineken’s board will now search for a successor.
